1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for configuring system resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage area network (SAN) comprises a network linking one or more servers to one or more storage systems. Each storage system could comprise a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array, tape backup, tape library, CD-ROM library, or JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) components. Storage area networks (SAN) typically use the Fibre Channel protocol, which uses optical fibers to connect devices and provide high bandwidth communication between the devices. In Fibre Channel terms the one or more switches interconnecting the devices is called a “fabric”. However, SANs may also be implemented in alternative protocols, such as InfiniBand**, IPStorage over Gigabit Ethernet, etc. **JIRO, JAVA, SUN, and SUN MICROSYSTEMS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. InfiniBand is a service mark of the InfiniBand Trade Association; MICROSOFT and .NET are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
In the current art, to add or modify the allocation of storage or other resources in a SAN, an administrator must separately utilize different software programs to configure the SAN resources to reflect the modification to the storage allocation. For instance to allow a host to alter the allocation of storage space in the SAN, the administrator would have to perform one or more of the following:                use a storage device configuration tool to resize a logical volume, such as a logical unit number (LUN), or change the logical volume configuration at the storage device, e.g., the RAID or JBOD, to provide more or less storage space to the host.        a switch configuration tool to alter the assignment of paths in the switch to the host, i.e., rezoning, to provide access to the newly reconfigured logical volume (LUN).        perform LUN masking, which involves altering the assignment of HBA interface ports to the reconfigured LUNs.        use a host volume manager configuration tool to alter the allocation of physical storage to logical volumes used by the host. For instance if the administrator adds storage, then the logical volume must be updated to reflect the added storage.        use a backup program manager to reflect the change in storage allocation so that the backup program will backup more or less data for the host.        use a snapshot copy configuration manager to update the host logical volumes that are subject to a snapshot copy, where a backup copy is made by copying the pointers in the logical volume.        
Not only does the administrator have to invoke one or more of the above tools to implement the requested storage allocation change throughout the SAN, but the administrator may also have to perform these configuration operations repeatedly if the configuration of multiple distributed devices is involved. For instance, to add several gigabytes of storage to a host logical volume, the administrator may allocate storage space on different storage subsystems in the SAN, such as different RAID boxes. In such case, the administrator would have to separately invoke the configuration tool for each separate device involved in the new allocation. Further, when allocating more storage space to a host logical volume, the administrator may have to allocate additional storage paths through separate switches that lead to the one or more storage subsystems including the new allocated space. The complexity of the configuration operations the administrator must perform further increases as the number of managed components in a SAN increase. Moreover, the larger the SAN, the increased likelihood of hosts requesting storage space reallocations to reflect new storage allocation needs.
Additionally, many systems administrators are generalists and may not have the level of expertise to use a myriad of configuration tools to appropriately configure numerous different vendor resources. Still further, even if an administrator develops the skill and knowledge to optimally configure networks of components from different vendors, there is a concern for knowledge retention in the event the skilled administrator separates from the organization. Yet further, if administrators are not utilizing their configuration knowledge and skills, then their skill level at performing the configurations may decline.
All these factors, including the increasing complexity of storage networks, decreases the likelihood that the administrator may provide an optimal configuration.
The above described difficulties in configuring resources in a Fibre Channel SAN environment are also experienced in other storage environments including multiple storage devices, hosts, and switches, such as InfiniBand**, IPStorage over Gigabit Ethernet, etc. **JIRO, JAVA, SUN, and SUN MICROSYSTEMS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. InfiniBand is a service mark of the InfiniBand Trade Association; MICROSOFT and .NET are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
For all the above reasons, there is a need in the art for an improved technique for managing and configuring the allocation of resources in a large network, such as a SAN.